S6 & LPS1

Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Sonoma 14), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Sonnet Pasithea, Laiv Audio Harmony; Active filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Power amplifiers: Vinshine Audio x Kinki Studio Dazzle & Gold Note PA-10 Evo in mono on subwoofer; Headamp: Enleum AMP-23R; Phones: Raal 1995 Immanis; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan] Cables: Exact Express Flame, Furutech; Power delivery: 2 x Kinki/Vinshine Tai Hang on amps and source stack, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, AudioQuest FogLifters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
2nd system: Source: FiiO R7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Preamp/filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Cobra [on loan]; Subwoofer: Zu Method; Cable loom: Exact Express Earth; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra, Akiko Audio Corelli Corundum & Castello Solo; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Furutech cable lifts, Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
2nd headfi system: DAC: Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Headphones: Raal 1995 Magna, HifiMan Susvara
Desktop system: Source: HP Z2 work station Win11/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; DAC/preamp: Audalytic DR701; Headphone amp: Audalytic HP70; Speaker amps: Topping B200 monos; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Viper; Headphones: Final D-8000, aune SR7000, FiiO FT7
Upstairs headfi system: FiiO R7; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3
2nd upstairs speaker system: Source: FiiO R7; Integrated amplifier: Simon Audio Lab i5; Loudspeakers: ModalAkustik Musikboxx with Dynaudio S18 subwoofer
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: €1'400 S6, €1'400/€2'000 LPS1 with two DDC1/DDC2 cables

"I don’t know what current sentiments are but hopefully, things are stable and prosperous despite the mainland bluster." "When they barked, people got scared. When they barked still louder, people somehow got used to it more often than not. Now it's just 'the wolf is coming' syndrome. I know it's unwise and dangerous but how our people react. Our stock market just hit a record high because of TSMC—a major semi-conductor factory; Ed.—because of strong demand for AI, computer memory and so forth. No idea how people across the strait think about it all." That was a brief late 2025 exchange between me and Stephen Gong, one of the Connoisseurs Of Sound at COS Engineering of Taiwan. It reminds us of the city state's importance in the global supply chain of advanced electronics; its hi-tech infrastructure; Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule; and similar posturing around Taiwan while just then Trumpian Imperialism set a dangerous precedent in Venezuela. Moving our narrative to Czechia for a moment, their mixed martial artist Jiří Procházka is popular for Hail Mary victories. They can have this modern-day samurai flounder in earlier rounds. But when the going gets dicey, our man gets properly spicey to win in spectacular fashion just before the final bell. So doing a Jiří can be shorthand for a last-minute surprise. In hifi, that's often something one does at the very end when all else has been sorted; final flourishes which may amount to a late shock victory. Sticking to modern cage fighting, going after a 1st-round 12-second knockout must then happen at the very beginning of our hifi chain. Like always-loud dynamic compression, in 2025 everyone is always on – connected to the incessant noise of the Internet. For those who still hardwire, this beginning is synonymous with our router. It's our point of contact with the worldwide web, across the straits. Stowaway hash riding on the incoming signals can cause hifi fatigue. Our sound may flounder a bit. Doing an early Jiří now means erecting an effective noise trap which allows signal to pass but not the HF hash which can compromise downstream digital conversion. "It's best not to cause noise in the first place than having to filter it out afterwards" is how digital experts Antipodes once put it. Before we leave the often bloody octagon of MMA, a final bit of crossover. Its combatants revel in the fact that anything can happen, at any point. It needn't be the better fighter—in our case, the shinier spec or more convincing argument—that wins. A violent spinning back elbow nobody saw coming can end things in a second. Hifi has its own unexpected twists; things which many believe can't or shouldn't work until someone or something proves them wrong. Thankfully for us, that doesn't involve being kneed in the face.

LAN distributors or network switches fall into that iffy category. Many believe that other than adding copper ports or the occasional fibre-optic SFP, they have no sonic merit whatsoever. Such folks advise us to stick to TP-Link level kit. My experience diverges. My main system's cloud files played 2nd fiddle to local files until two LHY Audio switches in series inserted between 20-metre CAT8a router feed and dedicated music iMac. On my office desktop a Stack Audio LAN regenerator does that heavy lifting. My ears are stubborn. Forum chatter be damned, they hear as they will. Should I cut them off and gift them to a prostitute like mad Vincent Van Gogh? Not. But you're certainly welcome to your own circumspection. As I see it, our perception is reality; ours. Our ears attach to a brain which processes data according to our very own neural wiring, acquired habits and developed skills. When people invoke critical listening, what I believe they mean is attentive listening. It's about heightened noticing from paying undistracted attention. That's a far more practiced form of doing playback than casual go-with-the-flow listening; than entering a quasi day dream; than acting out air guitar; or looking for background distraction. There are many forms of listening each with their own associated skills. For some modes, the type refinement which an audiophile LAN distributor can bring could be irrelevant? If so, it doesn't follow that it must be equally so for focused attentive mode. And how about the many different aspects which attentive mode may zero in on: dynamics; imaging; tonal balance; recorded ambiance recovery; timbres and their modulations; rhythm and timing; a performer's manual/vocal technique, phrasing, embellishments; general mood/climate; compositional structure; the horizonal domain of melody; the vertical domain of harmonies – and more. Do we really think that all of us listen for the same things, notice the same things and as such, assign equal value to them?

What would my desktop notice with the S6? How about the optional power supply? "For that we need a bit more time. That's because quite by accident we realized large performance gains with two transformers stacked in parallel. So we're currently reworking our power transformers with either thicker windings for lower wire resistance; and/or larger cores. Hifi is one demanding mistress. Transformers far beyond necessary specs do matter. This will add costs but let's get it right. We first thought of calling it S6P but given how it is turning out, that would suggest a mere accessory companion for our switch. Really, this can and should power any 12V device and be considered on its own. We already ran comparisons against other linear power supplies and ours definitely outperforms them. Our transformer maker is very responsive. We just received two new transformers that work very well in our own systems. We just need to do further auditions in some dealer showrooms. Another thing is, we finally seem to have licked the fibre-optic issues. Somehow the shield/contact of the SFP modules can introduce noise to affect the sound. Various modules and fibre-optic cables perform different. Sorting this out has probably been the longest challenge we ever tackled. So we revised the streaming module with a better layout, changed a 3.3V regulator to one of even lower noise, added a low-noise 1.8V discrete regulator to replace an original on-chip type, changed the SFP port itself and altered the grounding."